23 Jun KaBOOM!: Paralympians help build a playground for kids of all abilities

By Beth Livingston

On Thursday January 12, 2006, volunteer associates from The Home Depot, KaBOOM!, and Easter Seals joined world class Paralympic athletes to build a universally accessible playground in just one day for the Easter Seals Child Development Center in Ontario, California. The playground will provide a safe and accessible play space for children of all abilities. Until it was built, the children who benefit from the Center had no place to play near the facility.

“We wanted to have a fully accessible playground in the area so that children of all abilities can be integrated and have somewhere to play, where there is access to every area of a play structure for a disabled child,” said Mike Flory, the Easter Seals facility director.

Some of the accessible features include slides and ramps, a drum set, and a sandbox that is set at a wheelchair-accessible height.

To celebrate its 10th year of existence, KaBOOM!, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit dedicated to bringing playgrounds within walking distance of every child in the United States, is currently on a mission to build 1,000 playgrounds in 1,000 days. KaBOOM! has built more than 900 playgrounds and renovated more than 1,300 since the organization was founded in 1995. The Ontario playground was the 355th built since the summer of 2005 when KaBOOM! and Home Depot agreed to collaborate on the 1,000 playground project in.

The athletes who helped build the Ontario project are associates of The Home Depot through the company’s sponsorship of the Olympic Job Opportunities Program (OJOP), which gives amateur athletes full- time pay and benefits for a flexible 20-hour workweek to accommodate demanding training and competition schedules. The roster of Paralympians included Clay Fox, U.S. Paralympic Alpine skier, Monte Meier, U.S. Olympic Alpine skier, and Beth Livingston, U.S. Paralympic Nordic skier. Livingston, a United Spinal member who lives in Bozeman, Montana, also writes the “Growing Pains” column for Action.

“The Home Depot is passionate about helping to build and improve local communities,” Livingston said. “As the world’s largest home improvement retailer, The Home Depot embraces its role as a leader in social responsibility and celebrates its long-standing commitment to volunteerism by connecting with communities in a meaningful way.”

The Home Depot is the world’s leading employer of Olympic and Paralympic athletes and a proud sponsor of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams. To date, nearly 300 athlete-associates have competed in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, earning a total of 171 medals, including 75 gold, 59 silver, and 37 bronze. The Home Depot will continue its sponsorship of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams through 2008.

For more information on how you can bring a KaBOOM!/Home Depot playground to your neighborhood, you can visit www.kaboom.org, or send an e-mail to info@kaboom.org.